“Who’s your daddy?” While often used as a schoolyard taunt, it’s actually legitimate question of illegitimacy. After all, a university study concluded that up to 1 in 25 fathers are unknowingly raising another man’s child.

I love my mom, but my world flipped upside down when I learned my dad was one of those 4%. It was even more bizarre because I was good friends with my half-sister and half-brother and saw my biological dad on a regular basis. I was too blind, too naive, and too trusting to ever think anything different.

My dad is still my dad and I love him. No DNA test or otherwise will change my feelings on that matter. But learning this piece of trivia was a key turning point in my life. It forced me to be more scrutinizing of the world and I began to learn that things are not always what they seem.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to open my eyes. Almost 13 years after this discovery, I’m still learning.

The List Goes On…

Here are things I once believed:

• Santa is real.
• Only a select few can be rich.
• One shouldn’t talk to strangers.
• People think the same thoughts I do.
• Everyone can be a genius.
• Everyone is as motivated as I am.
• I’m special.
• I’m ordinary.
• Everyone loves me.
• Everyone is out to get me.
• Grades in school dictate ones lot in life.
• Possessions make people happy.
• Life is always hard.
• If I got through college, the rest of life would be easy.
• Aliens exist.
• Aliens don’t exist.
• Everything can be explained by science.
• Science can’t explain everything.
• The government would never harm their own people.
• People are generally caring.
• Everyone else has it easy.
• Everyone else has their act together.
• There is no God.
• There is a God.
• Nobody understand the struggles I went through.
• The only way to be successful is to work really hard.
• I can save the world.
• I should save the world.
• It’s my job to save the world.
• If I can’t be the best, what’s the point of going on?
• If I make one mistake, my life is ruined.
• There are no evil people in the world.
• The law of attraction works.
• The law of attraction is a scam.
• There is nothing after death.
• There is life after death.
• I’m alone in this world.
• I’m connected, in some odd way, to everything in this world

I’m sure if I sat here long enough, I could write another 100 items: some important, others not. Some beliefs were fleeting and others I based my life around. Was Abraham right? Is a belief just a thought one keeps thinking? Or were they wrong too?

Life Long Learning

The thing about beliefs is that they are built on facts and assumptions. And if we’re always learning with an open mind, then we’re always discovering facts and challenging our assumptions. Therefore, it’s inevitable that our beliefs will continually change with time.

There are things I once believed. There are things that I will not longer believe in a few years. There are things I’ll learn to believe once again.

And You?

What do you believe? What discovery changed your life? What do you not want to believe?

Who’s Your Daddy? And think carefully before you answer!

Santa photo by kevindooley used under the creative commons.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12836528@N00/3124443099/